Have a heart, 'suspend' a coffee

By Cameron Atfield

For James Thompson, it started as a post that went viral on social media a few weeks ago.

A photograph of an old man sitting alone at a cafe with a coffee, and accompanying text telling the story of "suspended coffee", in which patrons pay in advance for a disadvantaged stranger’s coffee.

Loading Dock Espresso co-owner James Thompson will be introducing a "suspended coffee" system to his coffee shop where people can purchase a coffee for those who can't afford it.Credit:Michelle Smith

That pre-paid coffee is then waiting to be made when a disadvantaged person enters the cafe.

The suspended coffee idea struck a chord with Mr Thompson, the co-owner of South Brisbane’s Loading Dock Espresso.

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The Big Issue state manager Cassandra Roland says there is a system that ensures the coffees go to those receiving homelessness support.Credit:Michelle Smith

With help from The Big Issue state manager Cassandra Roland, who acts as a voluntary liaison with the nearby Brisbane Homelessness Service Centre, Mr Thompson will start offering suspended coffees from Monday.

"How it works is, I’ll let Cassie know at the end of the day how many suspended coffees we’ve tallied up. She’ll then print out cards for people that entitles them to one free coffee," he said.

"It’s all pretty much governed by the Homelessness Services Centre."

While that system ensured the coffees went to the bona fide needy, Ms Roland said it also controlled the expectations of homeless people visiting the cafe.

"We recognised there were challenges and we didn’t want to set people who were already disadvantaged up to going into the coffee shop to find there’s no suspended coffee and they have yet another disappointment for them in their day," she said.

"This way, because we’re already working with Brisbane’s most vulnerable and we’re able to partner (with the cafe), we’re able to administer them to people who are accessing homelessness services."

Ms Roland said she would love to see the concept expand across Brisbane.

"It would be great if it were pretty much every cafe, or every restaurant – there’s a potential for suspended meals," she said.

"Really, you could apply the model to anything. You could do suspended clothes if you wanted to, so someone buys a T-shirt and a T-shirt for someone else. That would be really great if we had more of the community supporting the community."

Mr Thompson said while he was excited by the scheme, he had no idea how it would be received.

"It’s going to be trial and error for a few weeks, but the idea is to create a formula, a model, for other cafes to use if they wanted to use the system as well," he said.

And he hoped to see more cafes take on the cause.

"Definitely, yeah, definitely. I think Fortitude Valley could definitely do with a cafe that support suspended coffee," he said.

"Hopefully we can iron it out. I think we’re going to make it work."

Do you know of other cafes offering suspended coffees? Share them below.